


waiting outside

by ralf



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek is a Good Friend, Episode Related, Episode: s04e09 Perishable, Gen, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Stilinski Family Feels, if you squint super hard you might see something resembling pre-slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 09:06:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5411009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ralf/pseuds/ralf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Few places hold more nightmares than the waiting room of a hospital. Sometimes it helps when there is someone by your side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	waiting outside

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place sometime during 4x09 "Perishable". (At the beginning of the episode the Sheriff gets shot in the shoulder.)

“Will he be alright?”

Stiles turns his head when Derek appears out of nowhere, but at this point he is too used to werewolves suddenly looming in his peripherals to flinch.

“Yeah, it's just a routine surgery.”

Except it never is 'just' anything where his dad is concerned. Stiles stares down at his hands.

“May I?”

Stiles supposes Derek indicates the empty chair beside him. For a moment he considers saying something like ‘it's a free country’ but he knows what Derek really means.

He shrugs.

Derek settles down beside him almost soundlessly. Silence envelops them and Stiles wonders why Derek is even here. Well, no time like the present, since Derek doesn't seem inclined to talk anytime soon. He opens his mouth to ask, when Derek speaks.

“He saved me,” he says, voice soft. “At the school.”

Stiles's interest perks up at that. His dad had refused to tell him what exactly had happened that night and there had been no police report. Stiles had checked. Several times.

For a moment he considers pressing for information but a blatant “What happened?” would likely get him nowhere. Especially given that Derek isn't the most talkative to begin with.

So instead he settles for, “That's kinda his job, being the Sheriff and all. But,“ he adds, “I'm sure you already repaid him by saving him back.”

“He didn't need my help.” Is that a hint of a smile in Derek's tone?

Derek glances at him. “He can take care of himself, you know.”

His casual remark stirs something deep inside Stiles. “As a kid I thought my parents were invincible until... until I found out they were not.” He rubs his hands across his face and doesn't know why he keeps talking but he can't seem to stop. “He wasn't even involved in this one. He was just in the way of a stray bullet. And he was lucky. It could have hit him anywhere.”

He can feel the panic rising again, reliving the moment when the shot rang through the air and he felt his father twitch.

“And I couldn't do anything about it. I was at his side and couldn't have done a thing to prevent it. I—”

“Hey, Stiles. He is alright. He will be fine,” Derek interrupts him calmly and it takes Stiles a few seconds to register his own frantic heartbeat and ragged breathing.

“I can't lose him.” He didn't mean to say it, but it is the absolute truth. He has dealt with life threatening dangers of different forms and shapes without losing his nerves but the sight of his dad in a hospital bed is something he can't and never will be able to take.

“And you won't. You won't lose him,” Derek states slowly and while Stiles knows you can't just promise something like that, Derek's statement soothes a lurking fear inside him and he manages to regain his composure.

“He'll be fine,” Derek repeats and Stiles can almost feel his reassuring words like a warm touch although his hands are tucked away safely in the pockets of his leather jacket.

He nods and forces himself to relax.

Derek's mere presence beside him helps him cope, helps passing the time despite them only sitting in silence.

 

*

 

Derek sneaks into the dimly lit hospital room and slowly approaches the bed. The Sheriff looks a little pale and exhausted and he is clearly asleep. He seems younger, less weary.

Derek carefully touches his hand and eases his lingering pain. It takes more concentration and time than usually but it works.

The Sheriff shifts slightly and sighs but doesn't wake up.

Derek quietly exits the room, avoiding Stiles, whom he can hear fighting with a vending machine two hallways down, and leaves the hospital.

 

 

.

**Author's Note:**

> Derek refers to the night in 4x04 when he and the Sheriff went to the school to look for the Mute (even though I hope that was understandable :o )  
> Opinions are much appreciated :)


End file.
